Retainer for ball-bearings.



No. 888.266. PAT'ENTED MAY 19,1908.

E. SACHS. RETAINER FOR BALL BEARINGS.

APPLIUATION FILED APR. 17, 1907- Witnesses Inventor mm UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE.

ERNST SAOHS,.OF soHWEINFURT", GERMANY, Assronon or ONE-HALF TO ruin 1..STRAFB. or LANCASTER, PENNSYLVANIA.

V RETAINER FOR BALL-BEARINGS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Ma 19,-19oa.

Application filed April 17, 1967. Serial No. 368,757;

in bal ebearings, which will allow arranging the balls very closelytogether Without frictional contact between adjaeei'it hallannd whichwill hold itself and the series of halls in proper position in thebearing. These effects are attained by constructing the separator of aflat strip of metal form of an un'dulated ring or annulus, havingopenings in the crowns of its respective undu atiens; the said undulatedring being arranged between and with its faces confronting thebearing-surfaeesen which the balls travel, the said balls bein containedin the pockets provided alternately in the two sides of the undulatedring and projecting artly through said openings for contact wit 1 saidbearing surfaces.

In the accornpanying drawings, which form a part of this specification,-the invention is represented as applied to a thrust bearing, to whichtype it is more particularly adapted, though not essentially restricted'thereto since the invention may also be used in j ournal-bearings.

Figure 1 1s a side view of the thrust bearing selected for illustratingthe invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the separator or retainer withthe balls inserted therein.

The letters m and n denote confronting bearing-members for a thrustbearing, be tween which are arran ed antifriction balls I) in an annularseries. .he bearing-members m and n may consist of ball-collars such asprovided for step or thrust bearings, or flat plates or rings eitherwith plain surfaces or with annular confronting grooves or race- Waysfor the balls. v

Between the bearing-members m and n,

and-associated with the balls, is the ballretainer or separator e,consisting of an undulated ring or annulus made from flat sheet-metal.The construction is such that the separator-ring is. arranged fiatwiseas distinguished from edgewise between the two bearing-members, that is,the faces instead of the edges of the ring confront the bearing-surfaceson which the balls travel. The undulated form of the ring providesrccesscs or pockets alternating in its opposite sides 01' faces, and inthese pockets the halls are loosely arranged, being spaced apart by.

the portions t of the sheet-metal strip which lie or pass between theadjacent balls throughout the series; and the undulations of the ringare respectively provided with perforations f smaller than the diametersof the balls, through which perforations the balls artly project \andget contact with the eating-rings m and n respectively; the .111-

' terstiee'fbetwcen the two bearing-rings being of lessiwrdth than thedepth of the undulations of the separator-ring.

The pockets of the separator-ring may he of various forms, either curvedor square, but

are preferably made square as shown by bending the strip atright-angles; thereby bringing the pockets closer together thanotherwise. the drawings, the undulated separator-ring rests with theedges of the perforations of the upper undulations upon the includedballs, thus carrying the ring '2 the required distance above the lowerbearing-ring it. Since with this arrangement only the thin metal striplies between adjacent balls, thc

lost space is very small, and hence the bearing can befilled with acomparatively large number of balls, removing however, the frictionalcontact of the balls ,with each other. If any ball should be liable tochange its proper relative. position in the series by approachlnganother ball,' the )ressure exerted is to thc side of the strip which ismerely jammed between the two balls. For this reason, any

destruction or deformation of the spacer is' In an arrangement as shownin plain bearing-surfaces without the use of race-ways OI gIOOVOS.

I claim as my invention and desire to seball-separator comprising anundulalcd ring or annulus of flat metal arranged betweenbearing-surfaces.

2, In a ball-bearing having confronting bearing-surfaces and an annularseries of interposed'balls running on said surfaces, a ball separatorcomprisin an undulated ring or annulus of flat meta arranged between andwith its two faces confronting said bearing-surfaces, the undulations ofsaid ring being made square by bending the metal at right angles andthereby providing pockets only slightly wider than the diametersof the 5balls and in which the balls areconfined, said. '26

undulationshaving perforations of smaller diameter than the ballsthrough which the latter partly project for contact with saidbearing-surfaces.

4. In a ball-bearing having opposed bear-- ing surfaces and aninterposed annular row of balls, a ball-retainer consisting of anundulated ring 0" sheet-metal adapted to pass between ad acent balls andreceive the successive balls alternately in the pockets of its oppositesides, said pockets having openings 7 through which the balls areadapted to project and come in contact with the bearingsurfaces behindthe respective pockets.

In testimony whereof I have set my signature to this specification inthe presence of two subscribing Witnesses. V

ERNST SACHS. Witnesses:

H. BARDEL, A. LONZL.

